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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to ask you please about your experiences with "Mongolian Blue Spot".

92 replies

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 20:41

Regular namechanger.
I ask in kind of a professional capacity.

In my job I come across MBS or Congenital Dermal Melanocytosis very regularly.

As I'm not a doctor I cannot diagnose it, so have to refer parents to hospital to have it confirmed. If we don't any mark will be flagged as potential abuse.

I am very, very uncomfortable with the whole pathway. I don't even like saying MBS in front of parents as even the name is awful.

Can I ask of your experiences if your child has MBS?

OP posts:

Original poster

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 22:47

badkitten ; sounds just like it!
Base of the spine/buttocks is the most usual place. :)

OP posts:

Original poster

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 22:50

jollyfrog it seems to be missed on the NIPE 9 times out of ten where I work, but it's a pretty white area.

OP posts:

MrsPatrickDempsey · 15/02/2015 22:50

I completed my examination of the newborn course 4 years ago and was told the correct term is hyper pigmented macule. This may make it easier to discuss with the parents?

OhYouBadBadKitten · 15/02/2015 22:53

I can't believe we didn't know!

BonzoDooDah · 15/02/2015 22:58

My Dh and I are both caucasian, mixed Celtic/Scandinavian with north european / white skin, though DH has slightly olivey skin - some people think he is mixed race eastern European / North Asian but his family tree is Celtic as far bask as they can trace.
DS had this at the top of his buttock cheeks. It looks like a faint bruise. I remember asking the Health Visitor or Doctor about it when he was very young as I thought it was a bruise that hadn't faded for months.
This is the first time I have had any idea of what it is. I have (background) worried about it for a few years as it hadn't faded.

I wonder why he has it with our genetic history.

OohLaLaa · 15/02/2015 23:07

DD (mixed white and black Caribbean) has one. A large one across the base of her spine and bottom cheeks. Almost 5 months old and it hasn't faded at all. HV recorded it in her red book.

The midwife rather charmingly asked me if her dad was 'foreign' when we were mixed back to the ward

OohLaLaa · 15/02/2015 23:07

For mixed read moved

Original poster

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 23:33

MPD I think I prefer that term. :)

"Hyper pigmentation" is pretty explanatory, although I'd obviously tailor my language to the family.

OP posts:

Original poster

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 23:40

badkitten I'm not sure it's something many white families necessarily know about!

A mother today pointed out her child's mark, as I clocked it, but she was MR.

OP posts:

StrawberryMouse · 15/02/2015 23:45

I had one (am in my late twenties with white parents) on my bum but can't see it now.

Apart from it being mentioned to my mother at the time, it apparently wasn't documented or ever brought up again but I suppose things are a bit different regarding bruising and policy etc now.

Original poster

DotRotten · 15/02/2015 23:56

hiddenhome it's exactly that kind of trauma I think could be avoided.
:(

Bruising pathways are always erring on the side of caution. We have all learned from the tragic cases of Peter Connolly and Victoria Climbie etcetera. :(

OP posts:

BonzoDooDah · 16/02/2015 09:48

OhYoubadkitten - that's exactly what I had thought - minor worry that something was damaging DS and I couldn't find out what it was.

MERLYPUSSEDOFF · 16/02/2015 10:23

Both my twin mixed race Asian/white boys were born with them. DT1 had huge one on his bum and one on his ankle. DT2 had a smaller one on his upper bum area.
I was told, by HV, they were more likely to be found near the spine of mixed race babies and that they should be documented at GP.
Nursery did question me re dT1's (even though I had told them - I am glad they did question it rather than pass it off if unsure).
DT2 has gone. DT1 still has a blue bum which shows up more if he is cold - getting out of bath.
My NDN, foster parent of 50+ kids, adopted Chinese/white mixed race children that had them too. His offspring, also mixed race but presumably in a more dilute form as mum is white,also have them. Boy is his image and has them,girl blonde and blue eyes has lighter versions. Never knew about them before.

redhatnoknickers · 16/02/2015 11:01

My dc are caucasian, we imagine the MBSs came from Eastern European heritage several generations back. All our HCPs have been brilliant and knowlegeable bar one midwife, who referred to MBS as "a touch of the tar brush".

unlucky83 · 16/02/2015 11:23

DD1 had one - on the top of her buttocks, quite large - wasn't really obvious at birth, appeared when she was a few weeks old...
(I'm white, DP is arabic -he'd never heard of them too)
I thought DP must have dropped her and was too embarrassed to tell me .
She was at the GPs for something else anyway and I pointed it out to them and they told me what it was...
AFAIK it was never written in her notes etc ...just existed, faded over time - think it has gone now (At 14 she won't take nicely to me asking to inspect her butt!). I did tell her nursery she had one.
DD2 had a very faint one and tiny and that disappeared really fast.
Can't believe that they have to be sent to hospital to get them 'diagnosed' - they don't change, only fade - they are always in the same place.
You see one, mark in the notes and then look again 2 weeks later - they still have it same place - what else could it be?
Don't know what the solution is -but I wouldn't feel bad about the name or getting them checked out - parents shouldn't mind it is in the interest of child safety... it does just seem a bit of a waste of time for everyone.
(I'd say what was more worrying - DP had gone home for some sleep when DD1 had her first examination - and the shift had changed. They decided she was slightly jaundiced and put her under the UV lamp...when DP came in later they looked at him and said ahhh and took it away ...did think could have been avoided if someone had read my notes...)

MrsDeVere · 16/02/2015 11:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AmyElliotDunne · 16/02/2015 11:37

I think I was born with one, my mum always thought it was where she rested a quite heavy musical instrument on her bump to play it (thanks mum!).

It was only once i had my own DCs and read about it that she learned what it was. Her dad was mediterranean, so presume it came down from that side of the family. Went shortly afterwards though so maybe was just a bruise?!

I thought these days it was fairly common knowledge that this might happen in darker skinned babies.

LostMyBaubles · 16/02/2015 11:40

I never thought about this! All3 dc have them. Ds1 at the bottom of spine. Ds2 has them there too and his ankles ds3 has loads more! Arms, back, ankles!

Im mixed race and dh is pakistani.

They are noted in hosp notes etc but dr didnt put all of them down in their notes..im sure his red book has it in.

Op thats awful that you have to refer each child on. I have nothing to hide but have a pretty hectic schedule as ds1 has bad health due to gastric problems and is in hospital a lot and ds2 and ds3 have ashtma so they are in and out too, so having ss would be extra meetings/appts etc.

nemo81 · 16/02/2015 12:25

Two of my children have it, i pointed it it out to the health visitor and she recorded it in the red book.

stitch10yearson · 16/02/2015 12:49

I assumed all kids had them, and was confused when i found out the white kids don't.
I don't think you should be unhappy about the pathway

FuckYouKatieHopkins · 16/02/2015 13:06

DD had one on the base of her spine/start of her bottom. I mentioned it to the MW who told me what it was. It was noted in her red book.

Her father and I are white (I'm vampire pale and redhaired!) but she is quite olive skinned with dark hair so it must have come from somewhere back up the gene line.

Her school once visited somewhere that had an exhibition about Mongolian people and one poster showed a girl who could have been DD's twin. They took a picture of her next to it to show me!

She's 14 now and it's pretty much gone.

ifgrandmahadawilly · 16/02/2015 18:46

Both me and my brother have small round ones on our bums. Interestingly, we have no non-white family members.

Mine was blue and quite conspicuous until my late 20's, where it faded to a sort of grey mark. I've never had a medical proffessional ask about it or remark on it. Lots of boyfriends have though.

I think there are a lot of people who have never heard of mbs.

Madmum24 · 16/02/2015 18:50

Mine all had them (half Asian) I knew what it was already so I was not concerned. The midwife explained that babies of some heritage get them, but did not give the name.

I hadn't really thought about the name before now. It does sound offensive.

Audweb81 · 16/02/2015 19:08

My daughter has this on her bum. Had never even heard of it until the midwife told me and she noted it in her red book just in case anyone queried it. Her dad is African. Never even mentioned it to her childminder who has never even asked either. I think it's beginning to fade.

Cocolepew · 16/02/2015 19:17

I have a large one goibg from the base of my spine and across my buttocks. It firs look like a bruise and has never faded or got smaller.
Im 46 and always knew it was a birthmark. I was in hospital when I was 7 and a nurse asked me about it, it was obvious he thought it was a bruise.
I didn't learn the name until I was doing a childcare course when I was 17.
They may be Romany blood on my dads side but I'm milkbottle white .

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